Lev Sibiryakov (Leopoldo Spivacchini) (Bass) (Polonnoe, province of Khmelnitskaya, Ukraine 1869 - Warsaw, Poland 1938)

                                                    Mefistofele in ‘’Faust’’

His real name was Spivak Leib. In Odessa Sibiryakov married the daughter of theatrical figure Sibiryakov. He studied with Fiorini in Odessa. Here he made his opera debut. Then he went to Italy where he took lessons from Cesare Rossi. In 1895 Sibiryakov made his italian debut. At the invitation of the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini  Sibiryakov, adopting the stage name Leopoldo Spivacchini, started to appear at La Scala in Milan where he performed with great success from 1897 to 1900. In Italy he also sang in other famous opera stages (Teatro San Carlo, Naples). Later he appeared in Tbilisi, Kharkov, Kiev and Baku. From 1902 to 1904 and from 1909 to 1921 he was a soloist of the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. From 1902 to 1903 he also sang at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Guest appearances followed in Riga (1910), Boston (1910-11), London (Covent Garden, 1911), Berlin (1912), Paris (1921), Brussels (1938), Monte Carlo (1932).  Since 1921 Sibiryakov lived in Poland, where later he taught at the Warsaw Conservatory. Sibiryakov possessed equal in all registers, powerful and well processed voice of a soft timbre. He was a master of mezza-voce singing. Contemporaries compared his voice to a sound of a violoncello.

Chronology of some appearances

1896 Biella Teatro Sociale Favorita (Baldassarre)

1896 Biella  Teatro Sociale Linda di Chamounix  (Prefetto)

1896 L'Aquila  Teatro Comunale Favorita (Baldassarre)

1896 Rieti  Teatro Vespasiano Favorita (Baldassarre)

1897 Milan La Scala Don Carlo (Inquisitore)

1898 Cremona  Politeama Verdi Boheme (Colline)

1898 Cremona  Politeama Mefistofele (Mefistofele)

1900 Milan La Scala Lohengrin (Araldo)

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Gramophone St. Petersburg -08

Life for the Tsar (Glinka): The rose that blooms, quartet with Maria Michailova, Galina Nikitina and Andrei Labinsky 2-24157 7839L

Gramophone St. Petersburg -11-09

Don Juan (Napravnik): Serenade 4-22055 6920r

Gramophone St. Petersburg 19-9-10

Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky): In the town of Kazan 4-22128 14804

Gramophone 20-9-10

Oh, if Mother Volga  (Cui) 4-22134 14813

Gramophone 23-9-10

At the gates of Eden a tende rangel (Ehrlich) 4-22136 14816

These days are past (de Bove) 4-22138 14818

Why was I born? (Convict's song) (arr.: Harteveld) 4-22137 14872b

Askold's Tomb (Verstovsky): In olden days our forefathers lived 4-22139 14819

Gramophone 27-9-10

Don Carlos (Verdi): Ella giammai m'amo...Dormiro sol, nel manto mio regal 022176, 022177 2047c, 2046c

Gramophone St. Petersburg 29-9-10

Oh, you are my fate (Prisoner's song , arr. Harteveld) 4-22169 14870

I shall return from Tobolsk (Prisoner's song, arr. Harteveld) 4-22170 14871

Gramophone St. Petersburg 20-9-11

La Sonnambula (Bellini): Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni 4-22318 15865

Gramophone 25-9-11

Ermak (Ballad, with piano) (Dobrovolsky) 022206 2442c

Gramophone St. Petersburg 1-10-12

Bacchic song (Glazunov) 4-22419 16684b

Gramophone St. Petersburg 4-10-12

Not the autumn drizzle (Russian folk song)  4-22451  16706

The anchor (Dobrovolsky) 4-22430 16707

Aufenthalt (Schubert) 4-22431 16708

Gramophone St. Petersburg 6-5-12

The two giants (Stolypin) 4-22365 16514

The midnight review (Glinka) 4-22366 16515

Demon (Rubinstein): Accursed world 4-22368 165166

Gramophone St. Petersburg 15-3-13

Judith (Serov): Cease your grumbling 022319 2730c

Gramophone St. Petersburg 20-3-13

Faust (Gounod): Church scene Seigneur, daignez permettre pt I with Elena Katulskaya 024074 2740c

Faust (Gounod): Church scene Seigneur, daignez permettre pt II with Elena Katulskaya 0242075 2741c

Gramophone St. Petersburg 7-11-13

Stabat Mater (Rossini): Pro peccatis 022332 2898c

Requiem (Verdi): Confutatis maledictis Gramophone 062059 2899c